LE Organizations Questions (Local & Fed)

[PhoenixCadet]

So, after wanting to be in the Marines for almost all of my life, I just found out I'll have to lay that dream to rest. I've got two medical conditions that disqualify me from service in the military. The sad part is - it's simply due to precaution. I can function just as well as anyone else who would be in. I don't have any limitations, or require the administration of medication on a regular basis like someone with diabetes or asthma would.

Now that I know that won't be possible, I've been looking at some other possibilites in law enforcement. I've looked at anything from local, state to federal agencies. Given that I've still got two years of high school left - I still like to research this kind of thing. I'm also debating on whether I want to stay living where I am now, or move to the NYC/North Jersey area. I say this because, if my education plan plays out as I want it, I'm going to get my general education done here, then the degree-specifc stuff done at a criminal justice college in NYC. Depending on whether or not I like it there would determine if I stay there.

With that said, I wanted to see what those here involved in LE have to say. As I said, I'm not sure whether I want to go local, state, federal, etc. There are a ton of organizations that interest me.

Of all the research I've done, I've pretty much summed up a list of federal and local organizations (in both areas I'm looking at living). If anyone has any personal experience (other than being arrested by them ) - I'd love to hear it!

Federal
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Immigration & Customs Enforcement
United States Border Patrol

DoD
Defense Criminal Investigative Service
Including all subordinate service's investigative services - e.g. Army & Marine CID's, AFOSI, NCIS, etc.).


Local (San Diego)
San Diego Police Department
San Diego Harbor Police
San Diego County Sheriffs Department

Local (NYC / North Jersey)
New York Police Department
Port Authority Police Department of NJ-NJ

I realize it's a big list, but I know we've got a few LEO's here who'd have at least a bit of knowledge. Thanks all!

[Sleuth]

I was a Special Agent with U.S Customs (now I.C.E.) for 27 years, and enjoyed it. Drove cars fast (with Gov fuel), shot free guns with free ammo - what's not to like. We were not as burdened with regulations as the FBI.
I worked in Boston, San Deigo, taught at the Academy in Tucson, and finished up on the border South West of Tucson.
I also traveled to 11 countries on the Gov.,so I "joined Customs and got to see the world". I never got to go all the way around the globe, but I went 1/2 way twice. Saw Europe, a small bit of Asia, the Middle East (2 months teaching in Israel), and most of the US to boot!
As noted elsewhere in these threads, most of us recommend against a CJA degree. What if you either don't like police work, or get injured and can't stay on the job? A degree in something that you also like (languages, accounting, etc.) can be helpful on the job and as a fall back. ( Mine is in Industrial Management.)

I also worked extensively with the USBP. A totally different kind of job, mostly outdoors nights on the southern border. While they do have investigators (or did), it is much more of a non-investigative job.

There are other interesting Federal Agencies, like National Marine Fisheries, Fish & Wildlife, Bureau of Land Management, etc. that can get you outdoors in some beautiful country.

Keep looking, you have time.
And get good grades and keep 'your nose clean'.

[PhoenixCadet]

I was a Special Agent with U.S Customs (now I.C.E.) for 27 years, and enjoyed it. Drove cars fast (with Gov fuel), shot free guns with free ammo - what's not to like. We were not as burdened with regulations as the FBI.
I worked in Boston, San Deigo, taught at the Academy in Tucson, and finished up on the border South West of Tucson.
I also traveled to 11 countries on the Gov.,so I "joined Customs and got to see the world". I never got to go all the way around the globe, but I went 1/2 way twice. Saw Europe, a small bit of Asia, the Middle East (2 months teaching in Israel), and most of the US to boot!
As noted elsewhere in these threads, most of us recommend against a CJA degree. What if you either don't like police work, or get injured and can't stay on the job? A degree in something that you also like (languages, accounting, etc.) can be helpful on the job and as a fall back. ( Mine is in Industrial Management.)

I also worked extensively with the USBP. A totally different kind of job, mostly outdoors nights on the southern border. While they do have investigators (or did), it is much more of a non-investigative job.

There are other interesting Federal Agencies, like National Marine Fisheries, Fish & Wildlife, Bureau of Land Management, etc. that can get you outdoors in some beautiful country.

Keep looking, you have time.
And get good grades and keep 'your nose clean'.

Sleuth,

I appreciate the response. One question for you, though. When you say that as an SA with US Customs, you wern't "burdened by regulations like the FBI", what type of regulations are you referring to?

Also - for anyone who can answer thiese (regarding location), is there any federal agency that allows you to select a duty location and actually stay at that location for most of (if not all) of your service?

Also - are there any agencies that have offices in the NYC/north Jersey area? As stated previously, I might finish up schooling there, and have been thinking about the possibility of living there.

Thanks again!

[PhoenixCadet]

FYI: DoD IG's Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) does not have subordinate investigative services. Army CID works for Dept of Army, not DCIS. Same is true for NCIS (works for Dept of Navy) and AFOSI (works for Dept of Air Force). While each of the military service departments do report up to Big DoD (i.e. Depts of Army, Navy and Air Force report to Defense), it is the true that Army CID, NCIS or OSI are subordinate to DCIS.

Roger - thanks. I understood that initially, I just mis-grouped them in that manner when I typed.

[ArkansasFan24]

Expand your options. Why have you limited yourself to local agencies in San Diego and the NY/NJ area in addition to a few DOJ and DOD agencies. There are many state agencies that offer law enforcement as a career as well as many other federal agencies that you probably aren't aware of.

For examples, you don't list the California Highway Patrol; the California State Park Rangers; related NY state agencies; the U.S. Marshal's Service; the U.S. Secret Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. I could go on forever. Sleuth named a few of the less known agencies. Did you know the Environmental Protection Agency even has criminal investigators as does the Internal Revenue Service? The Social Security Administration even has law enforcement agents that I believe are deputized by the USMS.

Also, I'm in agreement with the one who advised you to major in something besides criminal justice. You'll learn all the CJ-related material you'll need in your law enforcement training. College is the time to become educated so pick things that will make you well rounded, and select something that could give you greater hiring marketability as well as an alternative career. From what I understand most federal agencies don't give a flip about criminal justice. The FBI for examples likes accounting graduates and law school graduates as well as linguists and engineers.

I'm not trying to deflate an aspirations, yet I am trying to give you a few options.

[Sleuth]

A few quick examples of the internal regulations that burdened the FBI:
1.Every Customs field S/A had a take home car. Get called out (very common), and you could respond direct. FBI agents (with few exceptions) had to drive their own vehicle to the Federal building, sign in, sign out a car, and then respond. Then they had to return the car before signing out. Just more time spent on a bureaucratic form. We were all trusted to carry guns, but FBI S/A were not trusted to use a G car for official use only.

2. The FBI had a dress code. One Sunday morning about 1AM, I was called to respond to the Port of Entry, where Customs had apprehended a Top Ten fugitive. I called the FBI (he was wanted by them), and offered to drop the outlaw off at the Federal Correctional Center on my way home. They insisted they had to come and get him. 0230, and here come two FBI S/A in wing tip shoes and wearing ties! (I was in jeans and a polo shirt.) Who did they think they were going to impress? But them was the rules for the FBI.

3. Their report writing and review process was very cumbersome. We had one level of review (my Group Supervisor) before a report could go to the U.S. Atty. They had 3 or 4, including Washington. Once again, a general low level of internal trust of their agents.

NOTE: Everything I wrote is in the past tense, as I retired in 1997. Things may have changed for the FBI (and in I.C.E.). And most field agents of the FBI were fine folks, hampered by their headquarters rules.

[417Lt]

Jeez. All these agencies mentioned but not mine- Cal. F&G.
But then again, working on your own schedule, outside on boats, ATV's or M/C's, driving a code-3 4WD truck, and protecting our natural resources isn't for everyone. Then there's the hassle of finding somewhere to park that truck at your house every day. Deciding where in Ca. you might want to live is a lot to handle for some officers too.

'Taint a bad gig if you can see past that base pay number.

[PhoenixCadet]

Expand your options. Why have you limited yourself to local agencies in San Diego and the NY/NJ area in addition to a few DOJ and DOD agencies. There are many state agencies that offer law enforcement as a career as well as many other federal agencies that you probably aren't aware of.

For examples, you don't list the California Highway Patrol; the California State Park Rangers; related NY state agencies; the U.S. Marshal's Service; the U.S. Secret Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. I could go on forever. Sleuth named a few of the less known agencies. Did you know the Environmental Protection Agency even has criminal investigators as does the Internal Revenue Service? The Social Security Administration even has law enforcement agents that I believe are deputized by the USMS.

Also, I'm in agreement with the one who advised you to major in something besides criminal justice. You'll learn all the CJ-related material you'll need in your law enforcement training. College is the time to become educated so pick things that will make you well rounded, and select something that could give you greater hiring marketability as well as an alternative career. From what I understand most federal agencies don't give a flip about criminal justice. The FBI for examples likes accounting graduates and law school graduates as well as linguists and engineers.

I'm not trying to deflate an aspirations, yet I am trying to give you a few options.

I used this list (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...cies#Federal_2) for my research. If there's any on that that I missed, please let me know.

The reason why I didn't put that many down was because I'm trying to find one that lets you choose a duty location, and whether you can choose San Diego or NYC/north Jersey.

I may sound picky, but that's why I'm also looking at the local PD's in those areas. I'm currently situated in San Diego, though hope to finish up college in NYC (when that happens). I'll be living with family in north Jersey, and depending on whether I like it there, I'd like to stay in that area or come back to San Diego.

Is that realisitc for a federal LEA? Of all the agencies I've checked out, they do have offices in San Diego, NYC and Newark, and all of those locations are perfect. I'm simply curious as to whether you can pick a duty station (and if you have to rotate, how often is it and can you go back to the same duty station). Things like that.

Also, regarding a degree, I'm not lookin' into CJ, actually. I'm hoping to go for a B.A. in Fire & Emergency Services (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, NYC) and hopefully, a M.S. of Homeland Security. (For the M.S. in HS, the only university I know of that offers this is San Diego State - so I'd have to come back here).

I'm not shooting for those because I feel that they'd give me a better shot at certain jobs - but rather, because that's where my area of interest lies.

[PhoenixCadet]

Hahaha, oops. Wrong forum. Sorry.

That's what you get for posting on two forums at once.

[PhoenixCadet]

With the feds, you go where the agency needs you. "Needs of the Service" come first, and if you don't like that, many agencies will tell you, "Tough, the exit is to your left." The thing about federal agencies is you have thousands upon thousands of applicants, many who would be willing to go to the farthest stretches of the baren Alaskan tundra just to get a "federal agent" slot. If you are picky about where you will go, especially with the bigger agencies (FBI, DEA, ATF, etc.), you'll likely be looked over for an applicant with less interference with the agency's mission and needs.

That's what I had figured. Thanks for the confirmation on that.

[Sleuth]

Some agencies has such bad retention problems in the NYC area that you could spend your career there if you wanted to. Customs was like that, I don't know about I.C.E.

These are the kind of things you need to ask the field agents, not the recruiters.

[PhoenixCadet]

Some agencies has such bad retention problems in the NYC area that you could spend your career there if you wanted to. Customs was like that, I don't know about I.C.E.

These are the kind of things you need to ask the field agents, not the recruiters.

Got it. Thanks!